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6 Steps to “Green” Your Mail

Dec 08, 2009

Once the exclusive domain of tree-huggers, Seattleites, and Al Gore, being “environmentally friendly” has entered the national consciousness. Some people take big steps to ease their impact on the environment (like buying a hybrid vehicle); others take small ones (like recycling the soda can instead of throwing it in the trash). At Click2Mail.com, we’re fully on board with the “green” movement to be kinder to our environment. And you can be, too.

Steps Click2Mail has taken to make direct mail greener

1. We help you “green your list.” When you mail with Click2Mail.com Mailing Online, we standardize (free of charge!) your mailing list by validating all of the addresses with the USPS national Delivery Point Validation (DPV) database (sometimes called CASS Certification) and making adjustments where necessary;

That saves you money because we can mail your pieces using lower-cost presorted rates and because you can be more certain that the mail pieces you pay to print and mail will actually be delivered to the intended recipient. And it’s good for the environment, too, because it reduces the waste associated with sending undeliverable mail.

2. Click2Mail’s products are recyclable. The recipients of your direct mail pieces probably won’t keep them forever; when they do decide to get rid of the mail, they can put it in the recycling bin instead of the trash because all of Click2Mail’s products are recyclable – even the UV-coated postcards (unlike plastic laminated ones).

3. We have printing centers across the country – for a smaller carbon footprint. When you order from Click2Mail, we use a sophisticated process to analyze and route your individual mail pieces to the printing center closest to the delivery address ZIP Code. That means your mail travels fewer miles (less transportation = less gas = less greenhouse gas emissions) and it arrives more quickly in your recipients’ mailboxes.

4. Our products use recycled content paper. The quality and performance of our paper and printing is equal to that of virgin paper, but less strain is placed on global forest resources as paper recycling optimizes the use of a valuable material and reduces the amount of virgin pulp required.

Additional steps you can take to “green” your mail

5. Invite your mail recipients to recycle. Encourage your mail recipients to head for the recycle bin, not the trash, when they’re finished reading your mail. Click2Mail helps you do this by printing the “Please Recycle” symbol on many of our products. (Better yet, think about creative ways to create direct mail pieces that recipients will want to keep around – because they’re particularly beautiful to look at or offer important information, for example. That’s good for the environment and your bottom line.)

6. Personalize your message. Personalizing your message for each individual recipient (which is easy with Click2Mail) makes your mail dramatically more effective (estimates suggest that personalization can increase the return on your investment by 1500%). Plus, you’ll waste less (the fact is that your consumers and prospects will be less likely to throw away your mail if it speaks directly to them).

7. Allow your mail recipients to opt-out. In e-mail marketing, allowing recipients to opt-out of receiving communications from you is required by the CAN-SPAM Act. Including opt-out provisions in direct mail isn’t the law, but it’s fast becoming a best practice – and it’s another great way to green your mail. Plus, it saves you time and money, because people who would opt-out of receiving your mail aren’t reading it (or acting on it) anyway.

Mail greener today withClick2Mail.com. Your kids and grandkids will thank you for it. So will your bottom line.